The Awakened Body, Feel Vibrant…Naturally!

Alternatives for Vaginal Dryness

I will never forget my very first hormone balancing class and the look on one participant’s face as she slowly enunciated each of the following words with utter disbelief: “Rosie Brown, (long pause), I cannot believe you are up there talking to us about vaginal dryness.” I could feel my cheeks getting pink. However, the old cliché fit: Somebody’s gotta do it. Might as well be me.

Women and, consequently, their families are suffering—needlessly. I can’t tell you the number of women who shyly follow me out of classrooms to seek information about vaginal dryness. They suffer in silence, too embarrassed to discuss the topic with their husbands or their gynecologists—as if they did something wrong.

To make matters worse, sometimes their partners, sensing the lack of vaginal lubrication, make comments such as, “I can’t turn you on anymore,” or “You’re just not excited about me anymore.” How humiliating and disempowering. There is a physiological reason for the lack of lubrication and the pain, one that that can be completely and easily eliminated. Recall that vaginal dryness is known to be a symptom of sex hormone imbalance as well as thyroid imbalance.

So strong is my conviction that today I will talk to anyone at any time at any place about this topic, no longer with pink cheeks. I once heard a vivacious middle aged speaker make the following statement: “There is nothing that an eighteen-year-old’s got that I can’t have fixed!” The audience erupted in laughter. I can personally assure you that vaginal “dryness” (aka, pain with intercourse) is one of these instances.

From personal experience, I learned that there are all sorts of slicky, slidy lubricants on the market, designed to be inserted at the time of lovemaking . . . that don’t work. I have two comments about those products: 1) They are embarrassing to use, and 2) They do not decrease the pain. Chances are lack of moisture isn’t the only problem. The pain with intercourse may be due to atrophy of the vaginal tissue. However, there are a number of other conditions than can result in vaginal dryness, including candida which is very common today, largely due to our high sugar, processed foods diet, coupled with a decline in normal bacterial flora.

The bottom line is this: there is a physiological reason for what is happening in your body, and you and your health care provider can do something about it. I first learned of bioidentical estriol vaginal cream from a compounding pharmacist. Estriol is felt to be the weakest and safest estrogen and is absolutely wonderful for restoring the vaginal tissue. Unlike progesterone, it does require a doctor’s prescription. Estriol can be applied as a transdermal cream to the skin or inserted as a vaginal cream. When using the vaginal cream, a tiny amount is inserted two to three nights a week—at times of your convenience. There is no longer a need to interrupt love making to insert lubricant. Yes, this is one problem you can quickly fix.